MANAGING UNEMPLOYMENT: IS THERE A BETTER WAY?

By Tom Brown

We can handle short term unemployment pretty well.  In most of the states of the US we give 3 to 6 months, depending on the state, of payments based on the individual’s previous wages and number of months worked, up to a limit per week.  We hope that the individual finds work before the benefits run out.  We often supply listings of available jobs, as supplied by area employers.

This works well enough when there are jobs in the same occupation and skill level of the person that becomes unemployed.

We do not handle longer term unemployment well at all.  For example:

--a person no longer employable in his former occupation or skill because there are no jobs in that occupation, or because the person has aged out or the person does not have up to date skills will not find a job.

--when jobs in the skill area are available in another region distant from the area where the unemployed person lives, the person will not get the job unless the person is aware of the opening and moves.

--the unemployed person that needs retraining to possess employable skills must be able to cover the cost of the training to get the job.

Clearly the idea of simply paying a weekly amount to an individual who cannot quickly find nearby work is almost useless.  You are not assisting the individual in re-employment, you are only assisting the person in short term survival.

And these cases are going to grow because of changes to our employment market. Some examples:

First, our economy is going to using more high-skilled service employees.  Health care is but one of many examples.

Second, our manufacturing industries are going to require more highly trained, highly skilled people.

--low skilled assembly lines are less important

--custom-manufacturing using high skills is becoming more important, for example advanced welding or even good general mechanical skills

--maintenance of equipment is increasingly complex and technical

Third our communication, entertainment and advertising industries are changing significantly.

--printing is less important and what is left is highly computer oriented.

--print advertising is being replace by on line advertising which uses a different more technical skill set to produce it.

--computer applications are everyplace including on mobile telephones.

But society has an obligation to help every individual contribute to the economy for the good of everyone.

So what can we do?

We can encourage and help an unemployed person to make a career assessment.

--are there jobs in my field?

--are my skills and current physical and mental capabilities such that I can get one of the available jobs?

--if I cannot get one of the available jobs, what are my options?

--what help do I need to become re-employed? Do I need training, relocation, therapy or medical treatment?

--if I am not employable, how do I get welfare or disability assistance?

--if I need training, relocation or medical treatment, what help can I get?

Probably the career assessment could be accomplished with state employment offices, or there could be a private career counselling opportunity.

We can also set up programs to help with the costs of training relocation or treatments and living expense while in these programs. But help with costs needs to be a sharing proposition.

The individual needs to share in the costs by involving family members in assistance and personally converting assets to cash and agreeing to repay loans…..and saving for difficult times!

Employers need to share in the cost by offering, conducting or funding training, including a share of living expense.

Government probably needs to share in the cost by handling the administration of the program and  perhaps providing some of the living and relocation expense and by allowing use of Health Savings or 401K/IRA funds for employment related needs.

Additionally government needs to pull together a total picture of current needs, trends and future needs for employers, employees and taxpayers.

We need to be in the position of anticipating and preparing for employment and re-employment needs, even anticipating downturns.

It is less useful to react after a downturn, labor surplus or labor shortage happens than before it happens.

It is interesting what other countries are doing.

Germany has a well-developed apprentice program for training skilled workers.

Singapore has reinvented its workforce several times, as it moved from, shop factories to low skilled assembly and to electronics.  They are possibly the most proactive.

For us in the United States, I do not view this as a start of another entitlement from the federal government.

I do view this as an opportunity for political leadership, or even executive orders for existing agencies to participate; maybe even an opportunity for foundation grants to individuals for career assistance